Walking through the conference doors to ConvergX 2018 in Calgary, it was clear this was a unique opportunity. This event brings the global Aerospace, Defence, Security, Energy and Mining sectors together to create investment and growth opportunities. The third annual event had gathered intensely influential panels and recognized the importance of the Q&A for delegates to engage. Leaving only a few minutes panelists presentations and up to 20 minutes for open discussions to the invite-only audience, the host & organizer, Wa–Vv, encouraged a lively exchange of information and ideas.

The Government of Canada is taking action to protect the marine environment from spills and the threat of pollution. The Oceans Protection Plan is a $1.5 billion investment that is going towards further protecting our coasts and waters, and the recently proposed Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act will help address risks posed by problem vessels to safe navigation, the marine environment, public health and local economies.

Airbus has delivered four H125 helicopters to Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources (NSDNR), completing the province’s air fleet renewal, following a competitive bid in 2016.

The aircraft will play an instrumental role in increasing service capacity for a wide range of NSDNR missions including search and rescue, forestry programs, wildlife and geological surveys, as well as firefighting. The H125’s lifting power capacity, endurance and maneuverability make it the reference for the most rigorous hot and high missions and swing operations.

Authorized statement of the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló:

(1 June 2017 - San Juan) “Climate change is a real problem and it requires all of us to leave a sustainable planet to the next generation. Our administration is committed to protecting the environment.

As a Governor who is also a scientist, I oppose the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. Our administration is committed to protecting our environment, and we recognize that even small changes can have big, lasting effects on our planet.

Taking action to adapt to climate change will help protect the health, well-being, and prosperity of Canadians and manage risks to communities, businesses, and ecosystems. Preparing for the effects of climate change before they happen will make our communities stronger and healthier for this generation and the next. That’s why the Government of Canada is making significant investments to help communities build their resilience to climate change as a key part of our plan to address climate change.

On September 7, 2017, Fastenal Canada Ltd., of Kitchener, Ontario, was fined $265,000 after pleading guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice to two counts of contravening the Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations, 1998 made pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. The fine will be directed to the Environmental Damages Fund.

International aerospace and defence engineering group Meggitt PLC, together with a consortium of selected business partners, has secured UK Government funding of £3.7 million to finance research and development in advanced thermal systems technology for next-generation energy efficient ultra-high bypass ratio (UHBR) aero engines. The grant, provided through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) programme, will be matched by the consortium.

The Canadian Coast Guard, which became a Special Operating Agency in 2005, accomplishes its work with resources at its disposal, but there are undeniable ­deficiencies, some of which undoubtedly prompted Prime Minister Trudeau to prioritize the needs of the Coast Guard in his mandate letter to the Minister.

There is a war going on in South Africa. It doesn’t, for the most part, involve armies or large battles, but it is a tough, dirty and vicious war nonetheless. Special forces, intelligence gathering, air operations, dog teams, covert surveillance, crime scene management, and many other experts are involved in this war, and at the forefront are the rangers of the national and private parks and the hunting and game reserves.

The Kitsilano Coast Guard Base on the BC coast was shut down by the former Harper government more than three years ago. Operational response started up quietly in May, but today was the official re-opening, complete with a First Nations ceremony. The Liberal government pledges to improve the search and rescue capacity and expand the role to include an incident command post for environmental response on the water.

After protesters shut down five oil pipelines carrying Canadian crude oil, police and energy companies say preventing a disruption is 'near impossible'. After the attacks, police, pipeline companies and government officials on both sides of the Canada-US border addressed the threat.

(July 2009) Canada's Northern Strategy focuses on four priority areas: exercising our Arctic sovereignty; promoting social and economic development; protecting the North's environmental heritage; and improving and devolving northern governance, so that Northerners have a greater say in their own destiny.

Great progress has been made since 2007 when Frontline Security first reported on radar surveillance technology designed for use in the homeland by public safety organizations, whose responsibilities include border security, search and rescue, transportation security, and law enforcement.

OPERATION DRIFTNET – Charged with monitoring and protecting the state of the vulnerable resources that lay below, Frank Snelgrove (below) hovers above the North Pacific Ocean in a CP-140 Aurora aircraft, monitoring the endless expanse of water for hours on end.

Our understanding of climate change impacts and adaptation in Canada has increased, both as a result of new research and through practical experience. Led by Natural Resources Canada, the development of this report involved over 90 authors and 115 expert reviewers, and synthesized over 1500 recent publications.

Q1:Following the severe flooding in Southern Alberta in June, you have been appointed by the Alberta Government as the Chief Assistant Deputy Minister for the Alberta Flood Recovery Task Force. What preparations had been in place for mitigating such an event, and what improvements are you now working on?

As we head into 2014, FrontLine Security offers some very pertinent ­reflections on the complex challenges of policing and disaster management. I trust that our articles will stimulate the additional discussion and debate.

First, Dr. Michael Kempa, a most respected researcher in his field, gives us a broad but comprehensive perspective on challenges in modern Canadian Policing in this more complex, and interconnected global environment, and the correspondingly changing face of Canadian community policing.

Dr Michael Kempa is an Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, and a freelance journalist who enjoys diving into the messy reality of the politics and economics of policing and security. Editor Clive Addy talks to him about the current situation of rising costs without the benefit of rising budgets.

Newspapers were full with stories of how the RCMP, supported by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), had just prevented a “terrorist attack” at the BC Legislature on July 1st (Canada Day) 2013. These unfolding events provided a revealing background to my inquiries about Canada’s maritime security infrastructure, and were relevant to my inquiries on how culturally different federal departments work together efficiently.

He was an award-winning horticulturalist successfully growing the rarest of orchids. He was an expert fly fisher and a documenter of river systems. He was a poet and ­publisher, as well as a long time correspondent of T.S. Eliot. He was schooled in the art of New Criticism while attending Yale, and later studied law at Harvard. But more than anything, he was the unrelenting hunter of “moles” within the CIA and, by extension, many governments and agencies of the Western world during the height of the Cold War.

(2011) Health care facilities need to develop an Emergency Water Supply Plan (EWSP) to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a total or partial interruption of the facilities' normal water supply because water supplies can, and do, fail. The objective of this Planning Guide is to help health care facilities develop a robust EWSP as part of its overall facility EOP and to meet the published standards set forth by the Joint Commission and the CMS. The guide is intended for use by any health care facility, regardless of size or patient capacity.

A recent workshop on Canadian Public Safety Interoperability held true to its theme “From Results to Success” with numerous speakers explaining to the over 300 ­delegates how their interoperability efforts are now bearing fruit. However, one major issue that remains to be resolved is that of 700 MHz Broadband for Mission Critical Data. The entire country awaits Industry Canada’s decision on what to do with this “beachfront property.”

Canada takes a risk-based management approach to ship-source pollution response, and seeks to prevent marine pollution ­incidents. This prevention and response ­capability to deal with marine pollution incidents arising from ships is buttressed by the National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP). Administered by the Canadian Coast Guard from its inception in 1991 until 2003 when Transport Canada took on the responsibility, the NASP is an integral element of Canada’s ocean management.

Large scale disruptive events seem to be occurring more frequently and with greater impact on people, property, commerce, and the environment. These events can present overwhelming global challenges to organizations of all sizes.

First, it assumes that the person holding a secret voluntarily wants to reveal it. While this happens very often, it ignores cases where secrets are revealed involuntarily. The latter can be of particular concern to the business community, where ­personnel are not always trained in the best practices of confidentiality. Second, that explanation has limited value as a vulnerability assessment tool. “MICE” offers some specific and useful indicators to watch for, but by focusing on a few of them, it misses other factors and most importantly the bigger picture.

We know that attacks on critical infrastructures from criminal threats, corporate or industrial espionage and/or politically motivated sabotage, could threaten public safety, impact national security, or even create economic upheaval or environmental disaster. What we may not know is that a large percentage of critical infrastructures is actually privately owned and that private security forces are becoming the primary protectors of vital infrastructure.

Seldom do Canadians, as a nation, look much beyond next week, next month or next year. We tend to be laid-back and blasé about our future. We engage in a game of self-deception by assuming that the threat of any major harm is restricted solely to a major environmental event, such as blizzards, hurricanes or flooding, created by climate change.

The global population is approaching 7 billion people and, combined with the ease and frequency of modern air travel, this gives rise to a rapidly increased public health risk at major world events. Mass gatherings, as they have come to be called, are largely pre-planned events, held for a limited time and attended by more than 25,000 people. These events can include any number of purposes – political, religious, athletic – and can be attended by, for instance, 300,000 rabid soccer fans at a FIFA World Cup, or 2.5 million pilgrims at the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

To ensure common objectives such as public safety and security stay at the forefront of an ever-changing global environment, all moving parts of a nation’s security force need to be working in sync and constantly communicating. This, however, is much easier said than done.

Darwinian principles today constitute the driving intellectual force behind the technology of a number of biotech companies, guiding a wide range of clinical applications that have already been developed or are on the drawing boards. On the forefront of this technology is Evolva, a Swiss company that seeks to use the ­principles of natural selection to propel their drug discovery program.

Internationally, Canadians considered progressive, compassionate, smart, careful, etc. – all positive accolades for sure. But we’re also thought to be a bit naive which isn’t so good when it comes to getting prepared for natural disasters and catastrophic events. Global events over the years have taught us that large scale industrial accidents and super storms can hit without much if any warning.

The 21st century has kicked off with a bang and opened the gates to an interconnected world where domestic and international borders are increasingly blurred. The last decade has witnessed the rise of transnational security threats posed by violent non-state actors, pandemics, climate change, ballooning economies, strains placed upon strategic, non-renewable energy resources, and significant technological advancements.

(Nov 2009) To predict the path and landfall of a hurricane or other coastal storm and assess the damage, emergency managers and scientists need continuous information on the storm?s path, strength, predicted landfall, and expected damage over large areas. Satellite and airborne remote sensors can provide the required information in a timely and reliable way. The lessons learned from hurricane Katrina are helping optimize future approaches for tracking hurricanes and predicting their impact on coastal ecosystems and developed areas.

One of the most knowledgeable and comprehensive examinations of the state of our Maritime Security has been one conducted by the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence. For the last six years, during its study, it has heard testimony, examined data, held regional hearings and visited our ports. The Committee has twice published its recommendations in ominously titled reports: Canada’s Coastlines The longest undefended borders in the World (2003), and a rather damning update of this initial report, entitled simply Coasts (2007).

National Security – The Sea Matters
Over the last six years, in the changed global security environment, Canadians have learned that National Security is a modern imperative that requires profound thought, development, investment, resourcing, and, most of all, government leadership and action. The new threat environment includes globalized threats such as terrorism, multi-national crime organizations, disease epidemics, and ­natural disasters – not simply traditional, state-oriented threats.

Although it is difficult to actually pinpoint when emergency management emerged as a recognizable and distinct profession, it can safely be said that the idea or concept of practitioners schooled in risk management started to evolve in the 1990’s. By the early 2000’s, emergency management was both the buzzword and the business!

THE ALBERTA EXPERIENCE FOLLOWING THE AUGUST 2005 DERAILMENT AT LAKE WABAMUN
Regions and municipalities deal with crises on a somewhat regular basis and therfore tend to maintain their readiness levels, however, major disasters that call for special resources do not happen very often. The tendency then, especially as events fade into the past, is to let our preparedness guards down. This is perhaps more true at the federal and provincial/state ­levels that are further removed from first response demands.

Weather-related hazardous events have always affected responders but the frequency of these natural ­disasters has been increasing – from 2-4 per year in earlier decades to about 12 per year in the last decade (with considerable year-to-year variability).

May 2007 - Lake City, Florida. The Florida Bugaboo Fire rages out of control as firefighters wait for a helicopter to bring a load of water. (Photo: Mark Wolfe/FEMA)

With the longest coastline in the world (243,772 km), and a marine area of responsibility of over 11 million square kilo­meters, Canada faces a formidable surveillance challenge! Along these shores are 250 ports and, on a typical day, 1700 ships are in our area of responsibility. It is important to know exactly what is happening in the ocean approaches to our borders. The goal in marine security, therefore, is to obtain “domain awareness” so that we can deal with potential threats before they get too close.

Advances in the ability of scientists to predict severe weather disturbances and natural disasters will not protect the public if warnings don’t get out. That message was recently delivered by Dr. Ian Rutherford, executive director of the Canadian Meteor­ological and Oceano­graphic Society (CMOS), to Canada’s broadcast regulator. He recounted how newly acquired Doppler radars have doubled the technologically possible warning time for tornadoes since one touched down in Edmonton in 1987 when he was in charge of the Alberta city’s weather service.